This underrated rivalry is packed full of drama

By Chris Cluff  |   Friday, January 11, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Seattle Seahawks
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Here they go again.

Mike Holmgren and Matt Hasselbeck lead the Seahawks back to Green Bay for yet another installment in what has become one of the more dramatic -- if overlooked -- rivalries in the NFL.

Since Holmgren came to Seattle from Green Bay in 1999, his Seahawks have met his old team five times, with the Packers holding a 3-2 edge. The Seahawks will hope to even the ledger and avenge the only postseason loss when they play the Packers in a divisional playoff game Saturday.

This rivalry began in 1999, when Holmgren and a dozen of his former Green Bay coaches and executives came with him to Seattle. The NFL immediately sought to capitalize on the made-for-TV drama by sending Holmgren and his new team back to Green Bay for a Monday night game.

The Seahawks forced quarterback Brett Favre -- Holmgren's one-time protege and the league's only three-time MVP -- into six turnovers, winning 27-7. The Packers committed 10 penalties for 103 yards, including three unsportsmanlike conduct fouls. And one of those came against a formerly unknown backup who was displeased with Shawn Springs for celebrating while returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown. Little did anyone know it, but that was the first look Seahawks fans got at their future quarterback, a fiery guy by the name of Matt Hasselbeck.

The rivalry only grew when the Seahawks sent Ahman Green to the Packers in 2000 and then acquired Hasselbeck in 2001. Each meeting from then on was essentially a game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle SeaPackers.

Hasselbeck's first start against his original team came back at Lambeau Field in October 2003, and it wasn't at all what Hasselbeck or Holmgren would have preferred. Favre and Green each accounted for two touchdowns as the Packers dominated the Seahawks 35-13.

The teams met again that season in a very entertaining wild-card playoff game that became notable not as much for the quality of the game but for the quip made by Hasselbeck just before overtime. The Seahawks won the coin toss, and the former Packer offered up some playful bravado. Unaware the referee's microphone would broadcast his trash talk on national television, Hasselbeck proclaimed to his former teammates,"We want the ball, and we're gonna score." To his chagrin, Green Bay cornerback Al Harris intercepted one of his passes and returned it 52 yards for the winning score.

The teams have met twice since then -- once in the final game of the 2005 season, which actually was played in January 2006, and again in November 2006. The oddity of the first game was that it had no meaning to the Seahawks, who already held the top seed in the NFC playoffs and pulled their starters after halftime. The significance of the game rested on two players, Seattle running back Shaun Alexander and Favre. The Seahawks' sole goals in that game were to get Alexander the NFL record for touchdowns in a season and make him the league rushing champion. They accomplished both as he scored his 28th TD and finished with 1,880 yards. Meanwhile, on the other side, everyone watched Favre like a hawk, thinking this might be the final game of his Hall of Fame career. He was mobbed by TV cameras as he walked off the field after the Packers' 23-17 win.

A day later, Alexander said, "It was so surreal, like the game didn't even matter. We were trying to get me a touchdown, and the fans were saying goodbye to Brett."

But Favre came back for the 2006 game, the first of the bunch that was played in Seattle and yet another nationally televised contest. And as irony would have it, the Packers from frigid Lambeau Field ended up losing 34-24 on a snowy Monday night in which Alexander ran for 201 yards on a team-record 40 carries.

That was the latest in what has been a dramatic and an entertaining series -- one of the more underrated rivalries around. And here they go again.


THE SERIES

Nov. 1, 1999: Seahawks 27, at Packers 7: In Mike Holmgren's return to Green Bay, Brett Favre turns the ball over six times.

Oct. 5, 2003: At Packers 35, Seahawks 13: Favre throws for two touchdowns and former Seahawk Ahman Green runs for two.

Jan. 4, 2004: At Packers 33, Seahawks 27, OT: Al Harris returns an interception 52 yards for a touchdown in overtime, ruining Matt Hasselbeck's proclamation of "We want the ball, and we're gonna score."

Jan. 1, 2006: At Packers 23, Seahawks 17: A coronation for Shaun Alexander, who sets an NFL record with his 28th touchdown, and a celebration of Favre, who leads the Pack past the Hawks' backups in a regular-season finale that many speculated was Favre's final game.

Nov. 27, 2006: At Seahawks 34, Packers 24: Hasselbeck returns from a knee injury and Alexander runs for 201 yards on a franchise-record 40 carries.
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About Chris Cluff

Chris Cluff spent 10 years as an editor and sportswriter for The Seattle Times. He was a key figure in the newspaper's coverage of the Seahawks, particularly during their Super Bowl run in 2005. He also has written two books on the Seahawks: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding,...
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